“We have denied our enemy any military option,” Salami said on Iranian TV just days after a November 24 deadline for an international deal over the nuclear program expired without agreement being reached. “When senior U.S. officials use the term ‘military option,’ it is only for psychology purposes. It is an outdated bluff. It is a banal and decayed theory. To use the Americans’ own words, it is ‘political decay.'”

Salami also said that Iran now possesses missiles that can reach targets “thousands of kilometers away” – an oblique reference to Israel, which theoretically lies within range.

Earlier this week, an Iranian opposition organization reported that Salami had boasted of Iran fostering a terrorist organization in Yemen similar to the Lebanese Islamist organization Hezbollah.

“Until the last few years, we have witnessed only the forces of Hezbollah in Lebanon who could stand up against the West’s bullying; but today, a major force has been formed in Syria and Iraq, as well as the forces of Ansar Allah in Yemen; this shows the potential the Islamic Revolution has to re-take Muslim lands from Western powers,” Salami is reported to have said at a gathering in the city of Ardebil on December 6.